Blood bank scraps plans for new vCJD transfusion safeguard

A NEW filter designed to reduce the risk of transmitting variant CJD via a blood transfusion has been scrapped by the blood bank after fears were raised by the manufacturer that it might not be working properly.

The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) suspended clinical trials of its use on humans at University College Galway last year after the manufacturer warned that subsequent animal studies cast doubt on the efficacy of the product.

“We were desperately disappointed because we thought we were only a few months away from having a fully vCJD-safe red cell and we would have been the first to have had that,” IBTS national medical director, Dr William Murphy said yesterday.